100.020.010Torrey: p48, T:II P:1POINT 10: What is
it to be righteous, or just?

Ezekiel
18:5Suppose there is a
righteous man who does what is just and right.

Zephaniah
3:5The LORD within her
is righteous; he does no wrong. Morning by morning he dispenses his justice,
and every new day he does not fail, yet the unrighteous know no shame.

To be just, or righteous, is to have that
character that leads one to always do that which is right.

The Hebrew word, according to its etymology,
means "right" or "straight." The etymology of the English
word "righteous" is the same. the etymology of the Greek word is "custom"
or "usage, i.e., that which conforms to custom.

The Righteousness or Justice of God is that
attribute that leads Him always to do right. It is not to be limited, as it
so often is in modern theological usage, to His punitive justice. This, as we
shall shortly see, is only one manifestation of the Justice, or Righteousness
of God, and not the one that is most prominent in Biblical usage.

Holiness seems to have more reference to
God's character as He is in Himself; Righteousness to His character as manifested
in his dealings with others.

100.030.000Torrey: p49, T:IIITopic 30: How
the Righteousness or Justice of God is manifested.

100.030.010Torrey: p49, T:III, P:10POINT 10: The Righteousness
of God is manifested in His loving righteousness and hating iniquity.

Psalms
11:4-7[4] The LORD is
in his holy temple; the LORD is on his heavenly throne. He observes the sons
of men; his eyes examine them. [5] The LORD examines the righteous, but the
wicked and those who love violence his soul hates. [6] On the wicked he will
rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot. [7]
For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face.

100.030.020Torrey: p50, T:III, P:2POINT 20: The Righteousness
of God is manifested in His visiting upon sinners the punishment due to their
sins.

Exodus
9:23-27[23] When Moses
stretched out his staff toward the sky, the LORD sent thunder and hail, and
lightning flashed down to the ground. So the LORD rained hail on the land of
Egypt; [24] hail fell and lightning flashed back and forth. It was the worst
storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. [25] Throughout
Egypt hail struck everything in the fields -- both men and animals; it beat
down everything growing in the fields and stripped every tree. [26] The only
place it did not hail was the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were. [27]
Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. "This time I have sinned,"
he said to them. "The LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in
the wrong."

2
Chronicles 12:5-6[5] Then
the prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and to the leaders of Judah who had assembled
in Jerusalem for fear of Shishak, and he said to them, "This is what the
LORD says, 'You have abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon you to Shishak.'"
[6] The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "The
LORD is just."

Daniel
9:12, 14[12] You have
fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon
us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what
has been done to Jerusalem. [14] The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster
upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have
not obeyed him.

Revelation
16:5-6[5] Then I heard
the angel in charge of the waters say: "You are just in these judgments,
you who are and who were, the Holy One, because you have so judged; [6] for
they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them
blood to drink as they deserve."

100.030.030Torrey: p50, T:III, P:3POINT 30: The Righteousness
of God is manifested in His bestowing upon the righteous the reward due for
their faithfulness.

2
Timothy 4:8Now there is
in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge,
will award to me on that day -- and not only to me, but also to all who have
longed for his appearing.

1
Kings 8:31-32[31] When
a man wrongs his neighbor and is required to take an oath and he comes and swears
the oath before your altar in this temple, [32] then hear from heaven and act.
Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty and bringing down on his
own head what he has done. Declare the innocent not guilty, and so establish
his innocence.

Psalms
7:9-11[9] O righteous
God, who searches minds and hearts, bring to an end the violence of the wicked
and make the righteous secure. [10] My shield is God Most High, who saves the
upright in heart. [11] God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses his wrath
every day.

Hebrews
6:10God is not unjust;
he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped
his people and continue to help them.

100.030.040Torrey: p51, T:III, P:4POINT 40: The Righteousness
of God is manifested in His protecting and delivering His people from all their
adversaries.

Psalms
98:1-3[1] Sing to the
LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy
arm have worked salvation for him. [2] The LORD has made his salvation known
and revealed his righteousness to the nations. [3] He has remembered his love
and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have
seen the salvation of our God.

Psalms
103:6The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.

Psalms
129:1-4[1] They have greatly
oppressed me from my youth -- let Israel say -- [2] they have greatly oppressed
me from my youth, but they have not gained the victory over me. [3] Plowmen
have plowed my back and made their furrows long. [4] But the LORD is righteous;
he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.

2
Thessalonians 1:6-7[6]
God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you [7] and give
relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the
Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.

In modern theological discussions we hear
more of the Justice, or Righteousness of God in its relation to the punishment
of sinners, but in the Bible we read of it more in relation to the protection
of His people. In modern usage it is more frequently held up as an attribute
of God at which sinners should tremble; in the Bible it is constantly dwelt
upon as an attribute of God at which His people should rejoice and be confident.

Psalms
96:11-13[11] Let the heavens
rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that
is in it; [12] let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.
Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; [13] they
will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the
earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples
in his truth.

Jeremiah
9:24"but let him
who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the
LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth for in these
I delight," declares the Lord.

Psalms
116:5-6[5] The LORD is
gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. [6] The LORD protects
the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me.

Psalms
145:5, 15-19[5] They will
speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your
wonderful works. [15] The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food
at the proper time. [16] You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every
living thing. [17] The LORD is righteous in all his ways and loving
toward all he has made. [18] The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all
who call on him in truth. [19] He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.

Revelation
15:2-3[2] ... They held
harps given them by God [3] and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and
the song of the Lamb: "Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways, King of the ages.

Even the righteousness of God in the punishment
of the sinner is sometimes spoken of in relation to its connections with the
deliverance or avenging of His people.

2
Thessalonians 1:6-7[6]
God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you [7] and give
relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the
Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.

Revelation
19:1-2[1] After this I
heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: "Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, [2] for true and just are his
judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by
her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants."

Revelation
16:4-6[4] The third angel
poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.
[5] Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: "You are just in
these judgments, you who are and who were, the Holy One, because you have so
judged; [6] for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you
have given them blood to drink as they deserve."

Here, it is the vindication and avenging
of His people, rather than the suffering of the wicked, that is the prominent
thought.

100.030.050Torrey: p52, T:III, P:5POINT 50: The Righteousness
of God is manifested in His keeping His promises.

Nehemiah
9:7-8[7] You are the LORD
God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him
Abraham. [8] You found his heart faithful to you, and you made a covenant with
him to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites,
Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites. You have kept your promise because you
are righteous.

100.030.060Torrey: p52, T:III, P:6POINT 60: The Righteousness
of God is manifested (1) In His providing a propitiation when sin was forgiven.
(2) In His justifying the person who has faith in the substitute, Jesus.

Romans
3:25-26[25] God presented
him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to
demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed
beforehand unpunished -- [26] he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present
time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

100.030.070Torrey: p52, T:III, P:7POINT 70: The Righteousness
of God is manifested in the forgiveness of the sins of the believer when they
are confessed.

1
John 1:9If we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us
from all unrighteousness.